Supreme Court vindicates Obama on health care

President Barack Obama cast the Supreme Court’s election-year vindication of his sweeping federal health care law as a victory for the American people. His Republican rival Mitt Romney vowed to repeal it on his first day in office if he wins the November election.

The high court’s ruling Thursday to uphold the overhaul put an end to what had been one of the biggest unknowns in the presidential race.

Obama, speaking from the same spot in the White House where he signed the health care bill into law more than two years ago, sought to tamp down the political implications of the court’s ruling. The decision, he said, was about upholding the fundamental principle that no one in America should fall into financial ruin because of illness.

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“Whatever the politics, today’s decision was a victory for people all over this country whose lives will be more secure because of this law and the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold it,” he said.

Romney, who spoke before the president, doubled-down on his campaign pledge to repeal the law and cast his candidacy as the next best hope for the millions of Americans who oppose it.

“If we want to get rid of Obamacare, we’re going to have to replace President Obama,” Romney said from a rooftop in Washington overlooking the U.S. Capitol.

With just over four months until the nation votes, both Obama and Romney will campaign on the high court ruling and use it to raise money for their campaigns.

The Romney campaign said it had collected more than $300,000 in online donations in the hours after the court announced, in a 5-4 decision, that it was upholding the central requirement of the health care law: that most individuals must buy health insurance or pay a penalty.

Obama said that mandate was essential to making the nation’s health insurance system workable and affordable.

“That’s why even though I knew it wouldn’t be politically popular, and resisted the idea when I ran for this office, we ultimately included a provision in the Affordable Care Act that people who can afford to buy health insurance should take the responsibility to do so,” he said. “In fact, this idea has enjoyed support from members of both parties, including the current Republican nominee for president.”

Romney, as governor of Massachusetts, signed a health care law on which Obama modeled the federal law.

The decision means the historic overhaul will continue to go into effect over the next several years, affecting the way people receive and pay for personal medical care. The ruling also handed Obama a campaign-season victory in rejecting arguments that Congress went too far in requiring most Americans to have health insurance.

The Obama and Romney campaigns have spent months quietly preparing how they would respond to the ruling.

While the White House publically expressed confidence that the overhaul would be upheld, Obama aides feared the political ramifications for the president if the law were to be overturned.

Some Romney aides believe the court’s decision could energize Republican voters and prove to be politically positive for the presumptive GOP nominee.

The court’s ruling will have a far-reaching impact on the nation’s health care system. About 30 million of the 50 million uninsured Americans would get coverage in 2014 when a big expansion begins.

Polling suggests that most Americans oppose the law, but an overwhelming majority want Congress and the president to find a new remedy if were struck down.

3 comments

I’m confused. Since “Obamacare” is built on “Romneycare,” does that mean Romney thought it was a bad idea when he instituted it for Massachusetts? Or was it a good plan then, but only became bad because a Democrat took his ideas? How about when it was a Republican plan in the 1990s to counteract what the Clinton administration was doing to change healthcare? Was the individual mandate good then, but it’s bad now?

This legislation is lacking in several ways. And while I never was really satisfied wit the final product when it was passed, I was still glad it passed.

After passage our two major political parties, the Insanity Party and the Inanity Party was now saddled with the task of making it better.

The Insanity Party is still claiming that they would like it to go away altogether, they wouldn’t dare. The Inanity Party(sometimes known as the Cave-in Party) will force the Insanity Party to craft a better plan. That better plan will look almost identical to Medicare. Medicare? you say? Isn’t that the devilish socialistic program that the Insanity Party hates? Yeah, well yes, but when these fools sober up they will realize it is the only plan that will work.

Of course we still need to bring down the cost of medical care. We will, but the geniuses in Washington will not be the ones that will complete that task. However it will be done, because it must be done.

As written the ObamaCare (UNAffordable Health Care Act)was ruled unconstitutional. Hey! Tell the truth. So the Supreme liberals rewrote the law. Unprecidented arrogance. Obama, Senate & now Supremes. Out with ObamaCare and out with Obama. We are finished.